El Rinconsito | Federal Way 320 — Restaurant in Federal Way

First time visiting. Ordered carne asada torta for me, and 4 al pastor taco combo for Tony. Out the door $26.88. Something went wonky when I tried to pay at the register closest to the entrance, and a different lady completed the transaction at the other register, and before too long, I was off with some really yummy aromas.

The Torta was surprisingly good. I'm not sure what I expected, maybe if 🌮 🔔 tried to make one... Anyway I look forward to enjoying another one soon.

Tony said the tacos were a bit dry; not too bad, and very tasty.

Four days later, I got an alert from Sound Credit union (A+++++in my book) about possible fraudulent transactions.

When I looked online to see about the possible fraud, I happened to notice that my purchase earlier in the week had cleared. TWICE. Evidently, both Cash registers ended up submitting the charges and got paid. I'm not excited about it, but sometimes stuff happens and it's way less stressful to plow ahead than gripe, so I call to find out how to get this corrected.

"You have to come in and show the manager the charges and they can fix it." Ugh! It's not really a convenient trip, I hate that 320th/Pac Hwy intersection, and no rational way to get there from here and avoid it, so off I go.

I get there a little after 11:00 AM. It was getting busy. As I was explaining to the manager what happened, the guy working as expeditor, turns around, evidently hearing some of the conversation.

He reaches out to shake my hand and says "my name is (Paul I think 🤔) I'm the regional manager..." He takes a picture of Sound's accounting, and apologized sincerely. He then tells the manager something technical about how to do it. Not being one to let an opportunity for some gratis slip away, I said feigning being coy "you know, a carne asada torta wouldn't hurt." He didn't skip a beat "Well absolutely." And then a quizzical "really, that's it?" Yeah.

So the lady puts in the order, gives me a receipt for the refund of one of the charges and tells me that it will be 2 business days for the refund to show up.

Torta was brilliant once again. This time I split it with Tony who said "yeah, that was really good, and I don't really care for tortas."

It's been three business days, and so far, the refund hasn't shown up. I HATE phone conversations, and looked and looked for a means to contact someone on the management team to double check if there's been some kind of glitch. Nada.

I'll update if there's anything else to report. I wouldn't cry about more carne asada tortas 🤤

April 23rd update: Three days after the “Owner's” response, the erroneously charged amount was properly refunded.

Now, how do you tell me you farm your social media responses to this or that AI bot without saying you “ farm your social media responses to this or that AI bot?”

Perhaps superficially, the absence of the offer of a complete refund of even the properly charged amount as an expression of penance.

By completely ignoring the negative comment about the dry but tasty al pastor tacos.

BFR: the torta El Rinconcito serves is neither a beef cake, nor a roast beef pie: it's a Mexican sandwich using a particular kind of roll, which they execute quite well

Reducing service...

First of all, I should tell you, I've never eaten anything from there. I learned about the place from a neighbor, who I gave a ride there, to get his dinner. How ever, I absolutely intend on trying this restaurant! My neighbor, raved about their food, the entire trip there, (About 15 min away.), and when I walked in the place, it smelled fabulous. My neighbor offered to pay for, anything I might desire, from the menu, however, my wife was making dinner at home when I left there, so I gratefully and regretfully declined his offer, promising my self and my wife, a rain check there! They have a huge menu, listing all the best authentic dishes, that people of all backgrounds in America, generally tend to know about and look for, as well as a couple items, I've never heard of, or tried and their prices appear as though they've remained close to what they must've been, before the Covid epidemic struck America and prices skyrocketed everywhere, for most everything. Which I believe, is the best reason of all the others mentioned here, to give them a shot at meeting my neighbor's raveing description, of their food and service. My only negative thoughts, about the place, were firstly, that it was very similar to fast food joints, in its layout and design, as compared to a place with servers taking and bringing your orders to your table, which I personally prefer, and secondly, the maddening parking situation, which I've detailed elsewhere in this review.

To sum it up... Not so convinient parking, but worth trying, none-the-less, based on cleanliness of the restaurant, friendly, focused, bustling service staff and fabulously, authentic looking and smelling, Mexican American cuisine . Personally, I was convinced I was going to try this place as soon as I got over the parking issue, that I'm certain, they must wish they could improve, more than I do. Thanks, for your time. ...

I'm placing my order online for a pickup at 10 a.m. it was nice simple and to the point. Upon entering the restaurant I was greeted by young lady who was trying to put on her uniform blouse on and was not looking ready to go to work as if she was late and did not treat me well and I felt singled out being that I look Caucasian. She was loud she was laughing loud and you could hear her throughout the whole restaurant and her choice awards were not the best and she was not very nice on her choice of words. I did not feel welcomed like I said because I look Caucasian but to the Hispanic people they were treating them a whole different way better then I was. I may be Caucasian but I am Mexican myself and I can hear all her poor choices of words and jokes about me I did not appreciate it even including but not limited to when I picked up the bag with my order in it and making fun of me in Spanish I did not appreciate that at all. They forgot my mineral water and upon asking about it it didn't sit well with that young lady making fun so I do not appreciate the customer service the food is excellent the atmosphere is fine but they don't make you feel welcome. I am full blown Mexican from born in Mexico. Equity and equality needs to be trained to that young lady about treating everybody equally in not segregating and assuming people can't understand what she says. I did Kevin generous tip in my order so I don't know why I got treated that way. She must have missed that tip. I wanted to share this cuz I felt offended for myself and for others and there is people talking about you when you don't understand at some point. It is offensive poor choice of words and malicious. This is what drives customers away from...